Editor’s note: Astrobites is a graduate-student-run organization that digests astrophysical literature for undergraduate students. As part of the partnership between the AAS and astrobites, we occasionally repost astrobites content here at AAS Nova. We hope you enjoy this post from astrobites; the original can be viewed at astrobites.org!Title: Brightening X-Ray Emission from GW170817/GRB 170817A: Further Evidence for an OutflowAuthors: John J. Ruan, Melania Nynka, Daryl Haggard, Vicky Kalogera, and Phil EvansFirst Author’s Institution: McGill UniversityStatus: Published in ApJLIn August 2017, gravitational waves from a binary neutron star merger (GW170817) were detected for the first time ever by LIGO and Virgo. Also detected were (deep breath recommended) — gamma-ray, X-ray, ultraviolet, optical, infrared, and radio waves — all from the same source. The era of multi-messenger astronomy was thus kicked off in spectacular fashion. The coincident short gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) confirmed that merging neutron stars are indeed one of the progenitors of short GRBs. Read this astrobite for more details about these observations.

Today’s bite further illustrates why multi-messengers are so very important and exciting. It is not entirely clear what happened after the merger, and complementary information from different channels can help construct an ...